Richard Green

It has now been 20 years since the devastating events of August 19, 1991. It was on that day that a car in the motorcade of the grand rebbe of the Lubavitch Hasidic community fatally struck 7-year-old Gavin Cato and critically injured his cousin, Angela Cato. Later that evening, a rabbinical scholar from Australia, Yankel Rosenbaum, was accosted and stabbed by a group of black youths. For us here in the Brooklyn community of Crown Heights, this 20th anniversary marks a sad but important milestone, a chance to reflect on what happened to us and on how we have since managed to improve our community and make it stronger and more harmonious.